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Morningsun Online Desk //

Sheikh Hasina has ruled Bangladesh with an iron fist for years. But on August 5 he resigned in the face of strong student protests and eventually fled the country. The crowd thronged the empty residence of the Prime Minister and started cheering. With that, Hasina’s 15-year reign as the world’s longest-serving woman-led government came to an abrupt end.

As reported by media outlets, Hasina’s last 24 hours in office were truly memorable. At 6 pm on 4 August, Hasina imposed an indefinite nationwide curfew to quell growing anti-government protests. That night, the top army officer, General Waqar-uz-Zaman, held an online meeting with high-ranking officers and instructed them not to open fire on civilians defying curfew. The army chief then called the former prime minister and reported that his troops could not enforce the lockdown in the capital, Dhaka.

On the morning of August 5, Hasina was kept under heavy guard at the Prime Minister’s residence. Police officers tasked with quelling the protests said they had lost control of the situation. A senior government official urged Hasina to resign, but she refused.
Sensing the urgency of the situation, the senior official asked Hasina’s younger sister Sheikh Rehana to persuade the Prime Minister to resign, but that did not help. Finally Hasina’s son, Sajib Wazed Joy, a businessman and an adviser to the government living in the US, called his mother and convinced her. To ensure security, Hasina quickly applied for temporary permission to enter India.

Hasina wanted to record her address to the nation, but her request was denied. Time was running out. They estimated that the crowd would reach the Prime Minister’s residence within 45 minutes. He and Rehana boarded a military helicopter arriving at an old airport near the government residence. The resignation process is complete. Around 2.30 pm Hasina and her sister left for India. About two hours later, General Waqar-uz-Zaman announced the prime minister’s resignation in a televised address and said he would hold talks with opposition parties to form an interim government.

The ousted leader, who wanted to cling to power till the end, had a life full of turmoil. Hasina was born in 1947 in the then East Pakistan. His father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Bangladesh’s first president and a hero of the 1971 liberation war, was killed in a military coup four years later. Six members of Hasina’s family, including her mother and 10-year-old brother, were killed. Hasina and Rehana were saved from the massacre as they were in West Germany at that time. They spent many years in exile in India. In 1981, Hasina returned to the country and became president of the Awami League (AL), a political party founded by her father. After the country’s democratization in 1990, he led the party in the 1991 general elections. But the Awami League unexpectedly lost to Khaleda Zia’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).

Hasina won the 1996 election and became the Prime Minister for the first time. After the Awami League’s victory in the 2009 elections, Hasina consolidated her power, suppressing the opposition and prolonging her rule. The controversial quota system for government jobs led to the sudden downfall of the “Iron Lady” of Bangladesh. For a long time Bangladesh was one of the poorest countries in the world, since then there was 30% reservation in government jobs for the children and grandchildren of the 1971 “freedom fighters”. The country has witnessed economic growth in recent years driven by the garment industry, with high unemployment rates among highly educated youth. And so, calling the quota system unfair, the students took to the streets to demand its cancellation.

Six years ago, around 50,000 students demanded reform of the quota system. Hasina agreed and decided to cancel the quota for freedom fighters. But on June 5 this year, the High Court declared the policy decision against the abolition of the quota system unconstitutional and reinstated the quota. Protests broke out again after the court verdict. The government appealed against the decision, but the anger of the students turned on the government. They began to believe that the verdict was a result of political pressure. Hasina claimed that opposition parties like BNP were behind the scenes inciting students and ordered security forces to crack down. The situation worsened when Hasina called the protesters “razakar”.

The protest that started over the quota system in jobs turned into a movement to overthrow the government. On July 21, the Supreme Court struck down most of the quotas in government jobs, but by then it was too late. Clashes between security forces and protesters led to numerous casualties on both sides, further escalating the situation. According to a United Nations report published on August 16, student protests and subsequent unrest after the fall of the government left nearly 650 people dead. Hasina has paid the price for her brutal response to the protests. Hasina is a woman who, 43 years ago, was hailed by the entire country as the daughter of the freedom hero. Now he is exiled from the country.

The big question is why Hasina, who was expected to lead democracy in Bangladesh, turned into a brutal authoritarian ruler. Mayumi Murayama, executive vice president of the Institute of Developing Economies of the Japan External Trade Organization says – ‘When she first became prime minister in 1996, I did not think Hasina was an authoritarian politician. When Hasina returned to power in 2009 after two years under a caretaker government, her authoritarian behavior began to show. First, Hasina amended the constitution by ending the caretaker government system. The lack of a system to ensure free and fair elections hinders the peaceful transfer of power and paves the way for the establishment of his authoritarianism.

She accused Khaleda Zia of corruption and brought her to justice, Hasina left no stone unturned to weaken BNP. He created an environment in the country where criticizing the government was tantamount to a crime. The right to freedom of speech is curtailed in universities and in the media. A.League student organizations increasingly dominate universities and critics of the administration continue to be harassed. In fact, the freedom fighters’ job quota protests were an expression of anger against the students who supported the A.L., the primary beneficiary of Hasina’s authoritarian rule.

Indian newspaper The Hindu claimed, ‘Hasina became increasingly estranged from her best advisers. In the end, only his sister Rehana was trusted’. Murayama’s observation – Hasina did not like to hear ‘no’, so the prime minister did not understand the reasoning and perception of the protesting students properly. ‘

President Shahabuddin, who had no real political power, collaborated with General Waqar-uz-Zaman to quickly deal with the aftermath of the crisis. After consulting opposition parties, civic organizations and student groups, he dissolved the AL-dominated parliament and formed an interim government headed by Nobel-winning economist Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank. Composed of 16 advisers, including former diplomats, former central bank governors, retired military personnel and student representatives, the interim government was tasked with bringing stability to the country and holding democratic elections.

The people of Bangladesh have long been divided, with about 30% supporting the two main parties, the Awami League and the BNP, while the remaining 40% support smaller parties. The Khaleda Zia-led BNP, released from house arrest, will likely try to regain political momentum. If the BNP comes to power again in the next general elections, then they can take political revenge against the A-League. Dhaka University professor Lailufar Yasmin said, “The people of Bangladesh are no longer willing to accept the binary politics they have seen so far. It will be difficult for a third party to emerge in this short period of time and provide a real alternative to the people.”

In his speech at the swearing-in ceremony for the interim government, Yunus said, ‘Bangladesh has got its second independence. “The question now is whether learning from Hasina’s mistakes will eventually lead to a truly democratic state free from military or authoritarian rule. Not only leading democracies like Japan — the biggest aid donor to Bangladesh — the United States and Europe, but also many in the Global South Countries where both authoritarianism and democracy exist will also keep a close eye on recent developments in Bangladesh, the world’s eighth most populous nation.

Source – Nikkei Asia